Floating

Chapter Ten

A whole month passed. You’d been so caught up in work, deadlines and Bucky that you barely even noticed it slip by, only vaguely registering the leaves begin to change and the air growing sharp.

Dating the city’s biggest liability had been going surprisingly well so far but, despite him offering after every date, the two of you still hadn’t spent another night together. In your unending paranoia you’d somehow convinced yourself there was a good chance he’d stop being so interested once that part of the relationship was reintroduced.

Things were too perfect to risk that at the moment, you wanted this blissful little bubble to last as long as possible.

The other side of your life, however, was not so blissful. You’d hoped that, after your most recent chat, Nat would start to come around to your way of thinking- but she was thawing out much slower than anticipated. She still hadn’t lifted her flat-wide Bucky embargo and the sound of his name was always met with a disapproving eye-roll. She was spending most of her time at Steve’s and, on the rare occasions you bumped into her in the flat, it was an uphill struggle to provoke anything more than small-talk. You felt pretty helpless, all you could do was wait and hope.

Now, it was almost the weekend. Usually you’d be full to the brim with joy at the idea of another college week coming to an end, but that wasn’t the case this week. This week was the week of Steve’s birthday, meaning every day was another step forwards in the dread-filled countdown towards his beach house rager.

Initially, you’d been looking forward to it, hoping a party might be a nice little break from stress and drama- but you turned out to be dead wrong. This time Steve was borrowing his parents’ boat too.

Just hearing the word made your stomach feel like it was about to fall out of your butt.

You confided in Buck that there was no way in hell you were getting on a fucking boat. He promised to back you up and keep your secret, so that settled your nerves a little, but what he said next made them shoot back through the roof. He said he was going to use the weekend to try and make peace with Nat.

You were terrified to think what he’d come up with.

—

The beach house was much busier this time around. It felt like there were people draped over every surface, you and Buck only just managed to snag one of the crappy attic rooms for yourselves.

Wave after wave of salacious memories crashed in your head as you unpacked your things, the same thing evidently happening to Bucky, cause he didn’t stop smirking at you the whole time.

Much to his disappointment, the two of you didn’t have time to hang around once the cases were empty, so you both vacated and began to slowly descend into the sea of unfamiliar faces clogging up the ground floor. It was definitely the rager Steve had promised.

The atmosphere was pleasant enough and the house was still as beautiful as you remembered, but all you wanted to do was quietly stick to Bucky’s side all evening, unable to escape the nerves brewing in your stomach about what the next day would hold. It was barely past midnight when you both agreed it was time to traipse back upstairs.

You shuffled into the bedroom, intensely curious about what your first bed-sharing experience as a couple would hold, but Bucky didn’t seem to give it a second thought. He just started getting ready for bed like it was a usual night. You both climbed into the sheets and he assumed the position of big spoon before whispering goodnight, telling you he loved you and swiftly falling asleep.

The whole thing left you a little floored. You’d at least expected him to try something, he didn’t seem exceptionally tired or drunk. You started wondering whether you’d strung this out for too long, whether it’d gotten to the point where he wasn’t interested in that way anymore. Did he see you as more of a friend now? Was there someone else who was taking care of that side of things for you?